What I Packed for a Low Key Spring Trip to Colorado

 Fully vaccinated, my mother and I decided to take a quick trip to Colorado to explore the Vail area and surrounding towns. We love a mountain view and wanted to be surrounded by them and both of us haven’t been to Colorado before.

I didn’t plan a jam packed itinerary like I normally do because I didn’t want to do much, plus not much else is available as far as activities outside of skiing like horseback riding and such (wouldn’t recommend visiting too early in May. If we waited one more week, there would’ve been more to do!)

Read on for what I packed and a few recommendations on places to explore:

What I Packed

I packed my go-to routine for spring weather and comfort: Anine Bing sweatshirts, Z Supply tees and Lululemon joggers with sneakers. In Colorado, it’s literally snowing one second and sunny and 60 degrees a minute later this time of the year so I was glad I packed layers like my leather jacket and vest, but could easily peel off layers on the warmer days.

Specifically, I packed two Anine Bing Ramona sweatshirts (the Moto one and the one that says Los Angeles.) They’re pricy, but I wear these sweatshirts both at least once a week. I wear my true size medium.

I also packed a few Z Supply tees including the perfect v tee, but I also recommend their tanks for layering or wearing on their own. They wash well and love the basics in black, grey and white.

I swear by the Lululemon align joggers–super soft fabric and the easiest and most comfortable to travel in. I brought just one pair along with the beyond the studio pants that I just bought which fit true to size and come in a sweat wicking fabric, perfect for on the go. Go up a size in the aligns, they run small and won’t fit like a jogger in your normal size (I go from 6 to 8 in those and wear my normal 6 size in the beyond the studio joggers.) I also highly recommend any of the Z Supply joggers (I own the lyric rib and Quinn joggers among others but I wear these the most.)

I also brought my most comfortable swimsuit that I feel good in (and more covered up!) I wore this to the Iron Mountain Hot Springs! This swimsuit is from Gap at least five years ago but found great similar options like this highly rated $25 suit, this one I want, this and this one which is so similar and a great Target find.

And for the first time ever, I packed just one bag: the Louis Vuitton Palm Springs PM backpack. It’s been my most used bag since I bought it earlier this year. I love being hands free and it can surprisingly fit a lot of items! I love a backpack for a casual trip of sightseeing, shopping and eating. Here a few more to shop like this Madewell leather mini backpack that I also own and the new Marc Jacobs backpack (also love the totes and mini totes, also perfect for travel.)

Colorado Itinerary Ideas that Don’t Involve Skiing: Glenwood Springs

On our third day, we visited Glenwood Springs, less than an hour from our hotel, Sheraton Mountain Vista Villas in Avon (which I highly recommend!), just 10 miles from Vail. This area was absolutely stunning and my favorite part of the trip. I booked us reservations at the Iron Mountain Hot Springs for the morning time slot 9-11:30. There are 16 tubs of varying temperatures and a family pool. It felt very spa like, but also family friendly.

We wanted to do some hiking and picked a hiking trail less than a mile that led to an old cemetery famously known for Doc Holliday’s grave. It was hard with the altitude making me realize our original plans to hike to see the Hanging Lake was indeed too much for us physically as this .7 of a mile trail knocked us out.

The downtown was beautiful and walkable too with many restaurant options–we visited the Glenwood Canyon Brewpub for lunch and I thoroughly enjoyed the spicy fried cheese curds and my burger and fries.

We also grabbed cake and yeast donuts from Coloradough–they were fantastic and I ate every crumb of my sprinkle yeast donut.

Colorado Itinerary Ideas that Don’t Involve Skiing: Breckenridge

To be honest, I didn’t really like Vail and we didn’t spend much time beyond 15 minutes walking around. Makes sense since I don’t ski or have any desire to participate in winter sports. We did however love Breckenridge. So walkable, easy parking and lots of great food and souvenir shops. Very touristy, but hey, we’re tourists and we found fun sweatshirts, indulged in Daylight Donuts, fancy hot chocolate and more.

The altitude here is very high so I felt the worst here and bought a can of oxygen which actually did help. That was a recommendation from several people and glad I finally tried it the second day of the trip.

Colorado Itinerary Ideas that Don’t Involve Skiing: Lake Dillon and Silverthorne and more

We didn’t spend much time around Silverthorne, Dillon and Frisco but we did some quick exploring, especially loving the views at Lake Dillon.

We also went a little off the beaten path to check out nearby town Minturn and drive along the mountain on highway 24. Minturn is a small town just a few miles from Vail with small town vibes and the Eagle River running along side. The Main Street is filled with local shops and restaurants and is the opposite of Vail, which I very much appreciated. We then continued down highway 24 where we past Gilman, an abandoned mining town located on a cliff, and continued the scenic drive stopping to the side of the road to snap photos safely and take in all the views.